Art Information

We want you to use the platform that is most convenient for your projects; however, for the fastest turn time, we highly recommend using Adobe Photoshop, specifically our pre-built templates. Check out our templates section and feel free to contact us if you do not see your preferred size.

The most important “art requirement” that we can recommend is to USE OUR PHOTOSHOP TEMPLATES! If you create your design using the correct template you will realize several important benefits and ensure that we produce your design in the fastest and most accurate manner possible.

Here are some of the benefits of using our templates:

Each template is set up for optimal output. The resolutions for each template are already optimized for the specific size and will produce optimal output when enlarged.

Each template will be the correct size, if you use the orrect template for your desired product.

We highly recommend that you use our pre-built templates to build your art work files. However, if you would like to use one of our accepted file types other than Adobe Photoshop, please build your file to the following general specifications:

Art Preparation FAQs

If you create your design using the correct Circle-supplied template (see links below) you will realize several important benefits and ensure that we produce your design in the fastest and most accurate manner possible. Here are some of the benefits of using our templates:

• Each template is set up for optimal output. The resolutions for each template are already optimized for the specific size and will produce optimal output when enlarged. • Each template will be the correct size, if you use the correct template for your desired product. • Each template has the proper color profile already applied. • Each template is already saved with LZW compression.

The simple answer is; predictability. When a Photoshop file is flattened it reduces the odds of something going wrong down to nearly zero. When layers are present and have text or layered effects applied to them, the file must be flattened before the enlargement can occur or those effects may disappear.

Certain programs like Illustrator allow users to “Convert to Curves, Paths or Outlines” which removes the need to supply us with any font files. When we get a file built in a program that allows the creator to convert fonts to outlines, we ask that they do so. The reason is that this eliminates the possibility of a missing font which would only serve to delay your job as we would need to stop it and have the file resent after being converted to Outlines. We will always attempt to use our fonts that match as closely as possible. This solution does create the possibility of tracking and kerning issues within your design.

We must have the fonts supplied for programs such as QuarkXpress and InDesign. These are all page layout programs which are designed primarily for publishing. Converting to outlines isn’t as simple as the illustration programs. Therefore, the fonts must be compressed before sending. It is not that we ask for them to be compressed to save space, but to maintain file integrity. Many times the font will come across to us with an extension of .dat that means a file was sent uncompressed and a server has tried to determine what the file is and did its best to assign an extension. The problem is it that it renders the file useless.

Fonts are a system level file, meaning they interact with the system folder and are very specific to the platform they were designed to be used on. If you are using OpenType face fonts then you may compress them on either platform. As a general rule it is safer to compress them on the same system as you are using them on. Mac users should always try and use Stuffit and Windows users should use WinZip.

LZW compression, (Lemple-Zif-Welch, those are the three that created this technique.) will compress the file the most it can without causing any degradation in the pixel quality. It is true that a file can be smaller when compressing it with JPEG compression. The downside is that when there is a color transition between pixels, especially between solid areas, you will see very blotching looking pixels around the edges of that transition.

Photographs should be at least 288ppi. Our templates are at the resolution they are so that elements that need to look very crisp, like type or logos, will still look that way. Photographic elements do not need to be that high resolution to look good. Between 288ppi and 300ppi is a good rule of thumb.

Each element in an illustration program has two components to it, a “Fill” and a “Stroke” . Both can be set to Overprint or Knockout independently of each other. By default “black” will be set to Overprint. If an element is originally colored black and then changed to a different color, like white, it will disappear when exported. Generating a TIF file out of a program with something set to Overprint can cause some surprises. When you export out to a TIF file format the Postscript commands are obeyed by the computer and it will behave based upon those settings. Another example would be if something yellow was set to Overprint and that element was on top of something blue, then the end result would be that the yellow element would turn to green.

Not all font families have italic, bold, or bold italic versions. The only time it is safe to use the style buttons is when you are sure the particular font you are stylizing does in fact have an italic, bold or bold italic version. If there is not a version of the font available in the stylized format, it will be substituted with the closest version; which is normally the book or roman version of that font. To be safe it is best to select the font from the font drop down menu.

Pantone® is the world wide authority on color identification. The PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM (PMS) is a color identification system for specifying and matching ink colors. Using Pantone, one can communicate color with customers, designers, and manufacturers.

The Pantone solid color guidelines are designed for “spot” or “flat tone” printing. The ink will be specifically mixed and matched to a particular color.

The Pantone four-color-process color guidelines are designed for all four-color-process printing (which includes essentially all digital printing as well as screen print four-color-process and litho four-color-process). The four inks (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are mixed during the printing process to create all the required colors in a design. The 4-color-process permits use of an essentially unlimited range of colors, but is not quite as precise when it comes to matching a particular solid color.

Pantone color standards for four-color-process printing are different (and sometimes very different) than the same Pantone color standard of a spot or solid color. However, given the “universal” nature of Pantone colors, they are, naturally, an excellent reference for specific color requirements. Circle Graphics encourages the use of this standard, and we encourage you to always identify your specific Pantone colors required on any job so we can ensure that we follow this standard.

We would ideally like to get your Pantone reference information on the order form in the “notes” section. We also look for Pantone reference numbers in your digital file (on separate layers outside the live area of your artwork). It is critical, however, that you “call out” or specifically identify the Pantone requirements because we may not always find embedded Pantone-builds that are not identified.

We strongly recommend that our customers have a Pantone Solid-to-Process Guide or the newer Pantone Colorbridge available to assist with color selection for digital printing. The guide book is available in a “flip size” and a larger “swatch book” that enables you to remove swatches for your customers. The link below will bring you to the website of a competitively priced authorized dealer of the Pantone books (note: we do not have a relationship with this company and there may be other sources for this guide).